Govt wants to end court adjournments

No adjournments, freedom from having to visit courts to pay traffic challans and cutting the six-month- long process for appointment of High Court judges to just eight weeks. These form part of the UPA government's bold plan to tackle the mountain of cases pending in courts which have made the judicial process a long and expensive affair. "Zero adjournments" as the eventual objective is the highlight of the reforms plan, titled 'Vision Document', that will be placed by law minister Veerappa Moily before captains of judiciary on Saturday at Vigyan Bhawan here for a comprehensive discussion on how to get rid of the pendency of 2.74 crore cases that is clogging the wheels of justice. Disposal of traffic challans has emerged as a major strain on courts as well as people who have to spend almost half-a-day waiting for their turn in conditions that are hardly hospitable. Recognising this as a major problem that affects speedy justice, the government has proposed a web-based solution. "All cases involving traffic offences or bailable offences can be dealt with through web and video conferencing technology," suggests the Vision Document. But the stress on "no adjournments" represents the boldest proposal to tackle judicial delays by seeking to put an end to the common pratice among litigants to seek postponement of hearing on one pretext or the other to frustrate the other side. "Adjournments repeatedly applied for and routinely granted are the curse of the Indian legal system," says the document, which was drafted by attorney general G E Vahanvati, solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam and eminent academician Madhav Menon in consultation with the law minister. It expects that the goal of 'no adjournment' can be realised to speed up the painfully slow Indian legal system, and goes on to list measures for that. It suggests that judges who routinely grant adjournments should be identified and put through counselling for course correction. The other radical reform is about cutting down the time taken -- six months to one year -- for appointment of High Court judges in the collegium-driven system. Government delays acting on the recommendations of the collegium for months.With 234 of 886 judges posts in HCs vacant, the government thinks its time to ensure that government completes the process in just eight weeks. Government has already decided to recruit 15,000 ad-hoc judges to decide 2.74 crore cases pending in trial courts across the country. They will be recruited from among retired judges, public prosecutors, government leaders and senior advocates for a period of two years with monthly fixed pay of Rs 50,000. The government also has a plan to fill vacancies in judicial officers posts in lower courts, which from time of advertisement to appointment at present takes nearly a year. It proposes to compress the entire process to just 14 weeks and, importantly, wants the expansion of selection committee, which at present comprises only judges, to also include leaders of Bar and other independent constituents. This appears to be an attempt to experiment with the concept of National Judicial Commission at the lower court level.

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